Dale McFeatters: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, international comedian

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad speaks at a press conference in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, Oct. 2, 2012. Ahmadinejad blamed the steep drop in Iran's currency Tuesday to "psychological pressures" linked to Western sanctions over Tehran's nuclear program. The remarks were part of his attempt to deflect criticism from political rivals that his government's policies also have contributed to the nosedive of the Iranian rial, which has lost more than half its value against the U.S. dollar this year and has sharply pushed up costs for many imported goods. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

The international comedy circuit will lose one of its brightest stars when Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who’s been appearing in New York City, steps down as president of Iran.

Ahmadinejad’s term ends next year, and as much as he would like to continue, under Iranian law he is barred from a third term. Not that Iran’s ruling clerics pay much attention to the law, but it’s no secret that they will not be unhappy to see the boisterous, outspoken and openly ambitious Ahmadinejad go.

He stayed in office last time only because of a blatantly rigged election that was so crudely done that it set off weeks of demonstrations that deeply unsettled the regime, which, until then, seemed to have no idea how deeply unpopular it was.

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So this past week may have been Ahmadinejad’s final appearance at one of his favorite forums for his comedic stylings, the United Nations. He is such a master of insult comedy that the Americans, Israelis and Western Europeans regularly walk out on his speeches.

The U.S. walked out on his first speech of the week because of his “paranoid theories and repulsive slurs against Israel.” Maybe his humor suffered in translation.

He hit the ground running almost immediately on his arrival in New York. First off was a riff on the Iranian government’s death threat against author Salman Rushdie for allegedly blaspheming Islam. The clerics finally rescinded the threat in 1999, or so they said, but last week a leading cleric upped the bounty for killing Rushdie by $500,000.

Ahmadinejad coyly refused to say whether the Rushdie threat was still in effect. Joshed the Iranian: “Is he here in the United States? You shouldn’t broadcast that. If he is in the United States, you shouldn’t broadcast it.”

As a comic, he just kills. Sometimes literally, but always with a smile.

Next he turned to Israel, which he sees as “a few occupying Zionists” who have no right to exist in the Mideast — or maybe, in Ahmadinejad’s opinion, anywhere else, either. As you might see, his humor is something of an acquired taste.

He also did a turn in which he envisioned Israel bullying and threatening the U.S. to get it to attack Iran and make good on “the continued threat by uncivilized Zionists to resort to military action against our great nation.” With his usual sense of timing, he chose Yom Kippur to share these thoughts with the U.N.

Ahmadinejad professes to be puzzled by Israeli threats to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities. Maybe it’s because of Iran’s continuous threats to wipe Israel off the map. No sense of humor, those Israelis.

One of the prices the Iranian president has paid for getting crosswise with the clerical hierarchy is that the hard-liners have been systematically jailing his top advisers and supporters. The president was barely wheels-up for New York when his top press adviser was jailed to begin a six-month sentence for allegedly insulting supreme leader Ali Khamenei, who appears to be exceptionally thin-skinned when it comes to insults. Disagreeing with him, which Ahmadinejad’s aide did, seems to constitute an insult.

Iranians are rightly curious as to what their president will do once he’s out of office. Ahmadinejad told a German newspaper that he might “return to scientific work” at a Tehran university where he holds degrees in civil engineering and traffic planning, which does much to explain the traffic in Tehran.

At 55, he feels he’s too young to retire from politics altogether. Besides, he has a grand plan to create a new world order free of the “hegemony of arrogance.” Always a great kidder, our Mahmoud.